Credible estimates reveal
that one of every six Syrians has fled their home, or what remains of their
home, often with little more than what they might carry in their arms or wear
on their back. Millions have sought safety in other towns and villages, and
many have been forced to flee several times to escape the crossfire of rival
opposition fighters and government forces. About one and half million Syrians
now find a measure of safety in neighboring countries: some in the relative
order of well-run camps, but many others are not nearly so fortunate. Even after escaping from predatory militias
and vengeful military assaults, victims continue to be prey for criminals,
sexual predators, sectarian vigilantes or allies of the Syrian government.

A number of governments that have pledged contributions have
failed to deliver fully on their promises, and neighboring countries, not least
Jordan and Lebanon, are strapped for adequate resources and justifiably fear
that violence inside Syria will spread to their own citizens. The Syrian
refugee crisis is a humanitarian crisis on the scale of some of the world’s worst
natural disasters of recent years, and this man-made disaster threatens
structural political damage far from its epicenter.

Borders may appear as definitive lines on a map, but family
ties, tribal links, sectarian affinities and trading ties routinely transcend
Syria’s borders. Along the
Syria-Lebanon border, for instance, one finds Lebanese villages within Syrian
territory, and the Iraq-Syria border is notoriously porous. In my own travels decades ago I well recall
visiting Turkish border towns, such as Kilis, which survived as entrepots for
trade with Syria and Iraq.

In March, the Institute for Iraqi Studies hosted a workshop
in order to gain a shared understanding of the disaster, as well as bring
insights to bear from Iraq’s recent refugee tragedy, which at its height
directly affected one of every six Iraqis (the same ratio as Syria today). Nearly
three million Iraqis remain displaced or as refugees, more than two decades
after the uprising of 1991 and a decade following the U.S.-U.K. invasion, according
to 2012 data cited in this report (p. 22).
The Iraqi case is a reminder that what is happening today to Syrians is
likely to have longstanding consequences.
In neighboring Lebanon, savage violence during the 1975-90 civil war precipitated
population displacements that radically diminished the richly diverse human
tapestry of the country. Many villages
and urban quarters formerly known for inter-sectarian cohabitation remain far
less diverse than they were before the civil war.

A follow-up workshop is planned for late September at Boston
University. The program and other
details will be posted on the website in late August.

Call for Papers

We seek submission of guest opinion pieces, from academic specialists, on urgent issues of the day in global affairs. We especially encourage submissions from anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and those in other disciplines who have expertise but do not often speak on current events. The best such pieces are typically 800 to 1000 words, with one central point to make. Some good tips are here, with part two being here. Some other good advice is here. Op-eds will be carefully considered but the editor reserves the right to decline them and may not have time to give detailed responses. Submissions to .